Monday, March 6, 2017

Staunton, March 6 – The notorious
Soviet-era practice in which efforts to ensure the fulfillment of state plans
forced the military to accept as complete weapons systems, planes, and ships that
were in fact anything but ready for service has returned at least in the case of
the navy, straining the ability of commanders to fulfill Kremlin orders,
according to military experts.

In a 2000-word article for
Svobodnaya pressa, military affairs expert Sergey Ishchenko documents this in
the case of three frigates, one of which is now forced to cover for the other
two which have been signed over to the navy but are seriously underequipped or
have failed to pass needed tests (svpressa.ru/war21/article/167597/).

This
revival of an unfortunate pass practice reflects Moscow’s drive to play a
bigger role in the blue water areas than it has the capacity for and means that
many of the ships that it and others count as effectives aren’t, either because
of a lack of equipment, poor training, or simply the wearing down of officers
and men who are not given sufficient time off.

The
details Ishchenko offers, all from open sources, paint a disturbing portrait of
a navy and a country that is trying to present itself as something more than it
is – and that is relying on public relations claims and bombast rather than a
reliable basis for operations, in the Mediterranean and more broadly.